Mood among Dutch consumers remains gloomy

20/05/2011 09:30

The mood among Dutch consumers remained gloomy in May, the consumer confidence index stood unchanged at -10. Consumers were less confident about the economic situation in general. Their willingness to buy increased marginally, but remained at a low level.

Consumer confidence

The mood about the economic climate was more negative in May than in April. This component indicator of consumer confidence dropped 3 points to -9. Consumers were obviously more negative about the economic climate over the past twelve months, but their opinions on the economy in the next twelve months hardly altered.

The component indicator willingness to buy increased by 1 point and stood at -11. Willingness to buy remains low. The modest improvement in May was entirely due to consumers’ conviction that the time was more favourable to buy expensive items than in the preceding month. Opinions on their own financial situation, on the other hand, were slightly more pessimistic than in April.